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Classical Mythology PINDAR A PERFECT POET Pindar was born at Cynoscephalae, near Thebes, the member of a noble family. He lived from about 518 B. C. to approximately 438 B. C. Pindar is considered by many to be the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece.
He began writing at a very young age and soon his poetry was popular throughout Greece. He traveled widely but spent much of his time in Athens and in Sicily at the home of Hieron. This may account for his being enamored with the Olympic games, which he often wrote about. Hiero bred horses and offered his steeds to the athletes to enter in the chariot races. Pindar's poems often paid tribute to the winner of various events but with out a doubt the chariot races were given his highest praise. Greek society savored these odes for their rich poetic language and imagery, moral ideas, and vivid portrayals of sacred myths.
The poems were not so much an account of the sporting events but what transpired afterward. The storyline or narrative myth was always connected to the winner and ensuing celebration. Each poem meant to be sung with dancing or even a procession for the victor, usually upon the athlete's return to his home city. Being a deeply religious man with high moral standards, Pindar's main characters normally displayed the same attributes. Pindar was also famous for being the first Greek writer to speak of the immortality of the soul and judgement by the gods after death. Pindar is given credit for inventing the Pindaric ode.
An ode built of three stanzas - strophe, antistrophe, and epode repeated in series. These stately intricate poems set the standard. They are often referred to as perfect in form and beautiful in language. Of all his poems 45 odes have survived. These make up one of the greatest collections of odes by a Greek author during this time.
The forty-five victory odes represent and celebrate triumphs at the four great Panhellenic festivals. The Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. Three of the Olympian Odes celebrated the victories of Pindar's close friend and confidant Hieron. The Nemean and Isthmian Odes concentrate more on wealthy clients and tyrants of the time who perhaps sponsored the athletes. The Pythian Odes were written for the Aeginians; the last of which was dedicated to an Aeginian wrestler, Aristomenes.
What makes this poem so noteworthy is the fact it ended with a note of sadness. Much of Pindar's personal life is unknown. Professionally he wrote his poems for commissions, but seemed to remain quite independent of his client's political and personal beliefs. Money probably was not an issue for Pindar since most of the men who requested his presence were wealthy. Pindar would stay in their homes and treated with the utmost respect and honor. Pindar's fame was so great with the rich and powerful that when Alexander the Great burned Thebes to the ground, Pindar's house was the only one spared.
What is written about Pindar's personal life is mostly speculation because the majority of information about all the Greeks was destroyed by fire and considered evil by the Roman Catholic Church. The bits and pieces of records that did survive allow us to hypothesize and create our analysis of this great poet's life. These complex poems that survived leave an undeniable backdrop of divine favor, human success and failure, heroic legend, and the moral ideals of Greek society. Bibliography Lattimore, Richmond Alexander. The odes of Pindar, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1947.
Bury, J. B. The Nemean odes of Pindar. St. Clair Shores, Michigan: Scholarly Press, 1970. Pindar, Peter. 1738 - 1819.
The works of Peter Pindar. London, England: Printed for J. Walker, J. Robinson, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and G. Robinson, and G. Goulding and Co. , 1812.
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